We should be proud of pink campaign

A 100-yard long pink ribbon in unveiled at half time of the NMSU vs. Georgia Southern football game. The Tough Enough To Wear Pink game is the premier event in the nation for raising funds for cancer research. 10/22-16(Photo: Gary Mook/For the Sun-News)Buy Photo

After 10 years, there will be no more fundraising activities or events for NMSU Aggies Are Tough Enough To Wear Pink.
Sarah Duenas/USA Today Network

Right from the start, it seemed like the whole community was on board.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said June Mumme, the wife of then-NMSU football coach Hal Mumme and the organizer of the first NMSU Aggies Are Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign. That was before the first Tough Enough football game on Sept. 29, 2007, against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, at a time when total collections from the campaign stood at $77,000.

Ten years later, the program has raised more than $4.5 million to support breast cancer awareness and education, and cancer research. On Monday it was announced that the effort has been concluded.

June Mumme was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, and had helped organize cancer campaigns in Kentucky when her husband was the coach there. When she brought the idea of starting a Tough Enough campaign at NMSU, there was enthusiastic support. University administrators agreed to pick up extra costs for things like paint for the field and uniform alterations.

It grew into the largest and most successful Tough Enough fundraising event in the nation. Along with the NMSU football game, which was always the highlight of the event, there were also a week’s worth of activities including the annual fashion show and luncheon and a silent vigil for cancer victims. And, along with the Aggies’ game each year, local school districts also held their own Tough Enough games to contribute to the cause

“We’ve always known the life cycle of a volunteer effort such as ours is limited, and we believe the completion of 10 years is a tremendous achievement,” Sisbaro said in explaining the decision to end the campaign.

While the fundraising campaign has ended, the benefits to cancer research will continue. In 2011, the campaign established a partnership with Cowboys for Cancer Research to establish a $1.5 million endowment with the NMSU Foundation to support cancer research.

A $2.3 million permanent endowment has also been established by Cowboys for Cancer Research at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center. The group is still accepting donations and working to support cancer research. And the final official fundraiser for NMSU Aggies Are Tough Enough to Wear Pink — Sunday’s brunch and western fashion show that ends the Las Cruces Country Music Festival — is still on. (Tickets can be purchased at the Visit Las Cruces office, 211 N. Water St., 575-541-2444.)

“It’s been the most exciting science I have experienced and could imagine, and we hope this research will ultimately lead to new breakthroughs in cancer treatment,” said Jeffrey Arterburn, a Regents professor in NMSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who has led research efforts here.

That work will continue. So will the many community efforts to support research and aid and comfort cancer patients.

All of those of have been a part to the NMSU Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign – from the “pink ladies who did so much work in organizing the events each year to the loyal Aggies fans who came to the games decked in pink – can feel proud to the contribution they have made to this ongoing effort.